Friday, May 13, 2005
The Waiver Wire: Mostly Baseball-Related!
I've shown a tendency thus far in my Waiver Wire missives to stray far afield from baseball-related subjects. But this week...
A couple subscription-based articles of note from BP. The first is an interview with Mark Johnson, a mathematician who spent a year with the St. Louis Cardinals. It's an interesting look inside a baseball organization from a saber-friendly guy. (Meaning he uses sabermetrics, not that he uses swords. I don't know. Maybe he does, but it's not in the interview.) He seems to have a nice grasp on the niche that sabermetrics can fill in an organization.
The second is a piece on the value of draft picks. The most useful piece of information is "Draft Rule #1: The greatest difference in value between consecutive draft picks is the difference between the first and second picks in a draft." In other words, the D-Backs are in a great position with this summer's draft.
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I just found Pennant-Race.com -- this graph illustrates the NL West race quite nicely. (Did I mention that the Diamondbacks are once again tied for first place?) The scale on these graphs on D-Backs' team statistics aren't large enough to be really useful (it'd be nice to drop, say, the first from the graph -- meaning, just start the data one week in), but they're interesting, too.
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I never mentioned that a co-worker of mine played blackjack at a table with Eric Gagne for about five hours last weekend (after one of Gagne's outings, I believe). For what it's worth, Gagne is apparently A Poor Tipper.
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So does this mean that Martin Sheen will get the Roger Angell role if they ever make a movie about The New Yorker magazine?
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Thanks to everyone who read or commented this week. Have a good weekend and go Diamondbacks!
A couple subscription-based articles of note from BP. The first is an interview with Mark Johnson, a mathematician who spent a year with the St. Louis Cardinals. It's an interesting look inside a baseball organization from a saber-friendly guy. (Meaning he uses sabermetrics, not that he uses swords. I don't know. Maybe he does, but it's not in the interview.) He seems to have a nice grasp on the niche that sabermetrics can fill in an organization.
The second is a piece on the value of draft picks. The most useful piece of information is "Draft Rule #1: The greatest difference in value between consecutive draft picks is the difference between the first and second picks in a draft." In other words, the D-Backs are in a great position with this summer's draft.
********************
I just found Pennant-Race.com -- this graph illustrates the NL West race quite nicely. (Did I mention that the Diamondbacks are once again tied for first place?) The scale on these graphs on D-Backs' team statistics aren't large enough to be really useful (it'd be nice to drop, say, the first from the graph -- meaning, just start the data one week in), but they're interesting, too.
********************
I never mentioned that a co-worker of mine played blackjack at a table with Eric Gagne for about five hours last weekend (after one of Gagne's outings, I believe). For what it's worth, Gagne is apparently A Poor Tipper.
********************
So does this mean that Martin Sheen will get the Roger Angell role if they ever make a movie about The New Yorker magazine?
********************
Thanks to everyone who read or commented this week. Have a good weekend and go Diamondbacks!
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